
Making iPhone special effects text messages is easier than you think. With a little creativity and some basic knowledge of the iPhone's features, you can send messages that stand out from the ordinary.
Text messages can be more than just plain text with the right formatting options. In fact, you can use bold, italic, and strikethrough text to add emphasis and personality to your messages.
To add a personal touch, you can also use emojis to convey emotions and add visual interest. With over 3,000 emojis to choose from, the possibilities are endless.
By combining these features, you can create unique and engaging text messages that will make a lasting impression on your friends and family.
For another approach, see: How to Put Emoji on Text Messages
iMessage Effects and Formatting
You can add text effects or formatting to your iMessages by tapping the Text Effects button in the Messages app. This will open up a range of options, including Bold, Italics, Underline, and Strikethrough.
Worth a look: How to Add Effects to Text Messages
To replay a message effect that you receive, tap the Replay button under the message. If you can't receive bubble effects, check your Reduce Motion settings.
Certain words trigger fun effects in Apple's iMessage, such as "Happy Birthday" filling the screen with balloons, "Congratulations" dropping confetti, and "Pew pew" launching a laser light show. You can also send fireworks with "Happy New Year" or firecrackers for occasions like Lunar or Chinese New Year.
You can also add an effect to an individual letter, word, sentence, or emoji by highlighting it and tapping the Text Effects button.
Here are some special words that trigger iMessage effects:
- Happy Birthday: Balloons
- Congrats or Congratulations: Confetti
- Happy New Year: Fireworks
- Happy Chinese New Year: Firecrackers and vibrations
- Happy Deepawali: Fireworks
- Happy Eid: Shooting star
- Happy Lunar New Year: Firecrackers and vibrations
- Best Wishes: Confetti
- Pew Pew: Lasers
To add a bubble effect, touch and hold the Send button, then tap Screen, and swipe to the left to see full-screen effects.
You can also use the Messages app to animate the message bubble by using effects like Slam, Loud, or Gentle. To do this, go to the Messages app, enter a message or insert an image or link, touch and hold, then tap a gray dot to preview a bubble effect.
Intriguing read: Disappearing Text Messages Effect
Sending Messages
To send a message with special effects, you can use the Messages app on your iPhone. You can add bubble effects, full-screen effects, or even a Memoji sticker to make your messages more engaging. You need a compatible iPhone or iPad to use Memoji.
To add bubble effects, follow these steps: open Messages, tap the Compose button, enter your message, touch and hold the Send button, tap the gray dot to preview bubble effects, and tap the Send button. You can also use full-screen effects to animate the screen.
If you want to send a message with Camera Effects, you can quickly create and share a photo or video with Memoji, filters, text, and more. To do this, open Messages, tap the Compose button, tap the More button, tap the Camera button, take a photo or video, and tap the Effects button to select one of the effects.
You can also send a GIF straight from your keyboard. When the GIF is finished loading in the message field, tap the Send button.
If this caught your attention, see: Gif for Text Messages Android
Send a Message
To send a message, start by opening the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad. You can do this by tapping the Messages icon on your home screen.
You can send a message to an existing conversation by tapping the conversation, or start a new message by tapping the Compose button. To add effects to your message, touch and hold the Send button, then tap the gray dot to preview bubble effects.
If you want to send a message with Camera Effects, tap the More button, then the Camera button. From there, you can take a photo or video and add effects like Memoji or iMessage apps.
You can also send a GIF by typing a GIF-related keyword in the message field, and then tapping the Send button.
Here are some iPhone-themed text effects you can use to add some flair to your messages:
- Smartphone emojis π±π²π€³
- Preorder & unboxing emojis π¦ππ³π
- Extra emojis π₯ππ
- Other Apple product emojis π§βοΈπ₯οΈπ»
To add a special effect to your message, press and hold the send button. This will open up the Send with effect menu, where you can choose from Bubble or Screen effects. The Bubble effects change how your single text message bubble will look, while the Screen effects will fill up the entire screen.
On a similar theme: What Does the Blue Message Icon Mean on Text Messages
What Are Messages?

Messages are a fun way to communicate with friends and family. Apple's iMessage service allows you to send colorful and personalized messages.
You can use iPhone text effects to add some flair to your messages. These effects only work on iMessage, and both the sender and receiver need to have iMessage enabled.
There are two main categories of effects: bubble effects and screen effects. Bubble effects animate the text bubble, while screen effects fill up the whole screen with animation.
Some examples of bubble effects include making a message pop out or arrive softly. You can also blur your message with "invisible ink" that is only displayed once the recipient swipes to reveal it.
Screen effects include sending lasers, moving spotlights, and balloons or confetti for birthdays and celebrations. These effects are a great way to make a special occasion even more special.
If you're not sure if you're sending an iMessage, just check the message bubble color. If it's blue, you know it's an iMessage. If it's green, it's a regular text message and iPhone text effects won't display.
A fresh viewpoint: Imessage Dark Mode Text Messages Iphone
iMessage Features and Options
You can add special effects to your iMessages, which show on screen in blue text bubbles, but not to standard SMS texts, which show up as green text bubbles.
To access these effects, press and hold the blue upward arrow to open the Send with Effects screen, where you'll find two options: Bubble and Screen.
Bubble effects only change the appearance of your single text message bubble, while Screen effects fill up the entire screen.
For another approach, see: How to Show Text Messages on Lock Screen
Capture and Send Message
If you're looking to add some personality to your messages, you can take a photo or video using the Camera Effects feature in iMessage. This feature allows you to quickly create and share a photo or video with Memoji, filters, text, fun stickers, and more.
To use Camera Effects, follow these steps:
- Open Messages and tap the Compose button to create a new message.
- Tap the More button.
- Tap the Camera button.
- Take a photo or video.
- Tap the Effects button, then select one of the effects, like Memoji or an iMessage app.
- After you select the effect that you want to use, tap Done.
- Tap the Send button or tap Done to add a personal message.
You can add more than one effect to a photo or video, making your messages even more fun and engaging.
iMessage Screen Effects Options
You can add some excitement to your iMessages with screen effects. There are eight screen special effects you can choose to use, including Echo, Spotlight, Confetti, and Fireworks.
To access these effects, open the Messages app and type your message. Press and hold the send button to open the Send with effect menu. From here, you can choose from the automatic effects, like Happy Birthday filling the screen with balloons, or type in a few words to search for the perfect GIF.
The Screen effects are:
- Spotlight: The entire Messages app will go dark, and a single light will illuminate your message.
- Balloons: Sends a flock of colorful balloons floating across the screen.
- Confetti: Makes confetti rain down from the top of the screen.
- Love: A giant 3D heart will fly out of your text message and float off the screen.
- Lasers: A bunch of color-changing lasers will shoot out from your text message bubble and travel up-and-down the screen.
- Fireworks: The app's background will turn pitch black, and bright fireworks will explode all over.
- Celebration: Sparkles of light will erupt from the corners of the screen.
You can preview each one in the Messages app, but these are your options.
Troubleshooting and Tricks
iPhone text effects can be a great way to add personality to your text messaging, but they only work with iMessage. Google Messages rolled out its own version of text effects for Android users in November 2023.
To troubleshoot text effects not working properly, check if you're using iMessage. If you're still having issues, try checking your iPhone settings.
To add fun reactions to text messages, tap the App button next to the message field in an iMessage thread and search for the perfect GIF.
Troubleshooting

Text effects on iMessage not working? Common reasons include not using iMessage or not having the latest features.
You need to be using iMessage to take advantage of iPhone text effects, and Google Messages has its own version for Android users.
To troubleshoot, check if you're using the right messaging app. If you're on an iPhone, try switching to iMessage or updating your features.
If you're still having issues, try pressing and holding your finger on the send button to see if it opens up the Send with effect menu.
This menu lets you pick and choose special effects, including Bubble and Screen effects, which change how your text message bubble or the entire screen looks.
The Bubble effects only change the single text message bubble, while Screen effects fill up the entire screen.
For more insights, see: Why Are Text Features Important
iMessage Tricks
You can react to text messages with fun effects by tapping the App button next to the message field in an iMessage thread. This opens up a world of possibilities.
Type in a few words to search for the perfect GIF to send. When you find the one you want, tap to select it.
Certain words trigger fun effects in Appleβs iMessage, such as "Happy Birthday" which fills the screen with balloons, and "Congratulations" which drops confetti.
You can also send fireworks with "Happy New Year" or firecrackers for occasions like Lunar or Chinese New Year.
Some special words or phrases can activate effects, like "Pew pew" which launches a laser light show.
Adding special effects to iMessages is a simple process, but it's not immediately obvious. Tap the App button next to the message field to access your special effect options.
There are two categories of effects: bubble and screen effects. Bubble effects only affect the blue text bubble, while screen effects take up the whole screen.
Here are your iMessage screen effect options:
To send a message with effects, follow these steps: Open Messages and tap the Compose button to start a new message. Or go to an existing conversation. Enter your message or insert a photo, then touch and hold the Send button. Tap the gray dot to preview bubble effects. Tap the Send button.
A unique perspective: How to Tap Iphones
Reactions and Effects
Reactions and Effects are a fun way to add some personality to your text messages. You can choose from a variety of options, including bubble effects and screen effects.
To add a bubble effect, open Messages, tap the Compose button, enter your message, and touch and hold the Send button. Then, tap Screen and swipe to the left to see full-screen effects. Tap the Send button to send the message with the bubble effect.
There are eight screen special effects you can choose to use, including Echo, Spotlight, Confetti, Fireworks, and Celebration. You can preview each one in the Messages app to see which one you like best.
If you want to make your text bounce on an iPhone, type your message in the Messages app and tap the Formatting button from the suggestion bar. Choose an animation style like Big, Shake, Ripple, or Jitter to make the text bounce.
Curious to learn more? Check out: Text Spam App
Some words and phrases, like "Congrats" or "Felicitaciones", trigger special effects like confetti raining down from the top of your screen. You can also try sending congratulations in different languages to see what effect you get.
Here are some examples of bubble effects you can add to any iMessage:
- Slam: This feature looks like the message falls onto the screen.
- Loud: Your text grows in size to make it look like youβre yelling.
- Gentle: The text starts very small and gradually grows to the regular size.
- Invisible ink: Text messages written with invisible ink arenβt legible until the recipient taps the screen to see what the message is.
And here are some examples of screen effects:
- Echo: Sends the same message to the recipient multiple times, filling up the screen.
- Confetti: Fills the screen with colorful confetti.
- Balloons: Balloons float across the iPhone screen.
- Spotlight: Shows a single spotlight with the message while making the rest of the screen go dark.
- Fireworks: Explodes fireworks across the screen.
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